Chương 2: 1.1.02 - A Whole New World

"Ash honey, you shouldn't be running around with that fever." I could hear the footsteps getting closer. Before I could continue with my escape attempt, I needed to get rid of this blue screen as it was obstructing my view. I tried to wave at the floating panel to dismiss it but I just looked like I didn't know how to dance at a night club. I tried to will it away and this time it worked. The floating panel faded away just as fast as it appeared, right as the woman rounded the corner.

Another sensation came from my head but this time it wasn't another headache or a flicker, I was getting lightheaded. Not good I thought, before I passed out. When I woke up the next time, I could remember everything, or most of it anyway. There were still some memories from both lives that I was still sorting through but I had enough clarity to realise I was not in any immediate danger. I looked beside me and could see the woman, who I knew now to be Marta, sitting beside me.

"Marta?" I called, taking time to pay attention to my own voice for the first time since waking up. Yeap, light and high-pitched, just like Justin Bieber when he sang Baby.

"Oh Ash, you're up. I thought I told you to get some rest. Why did you get out of bed? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw you collapsed on the floor?" Marta said as she fussed over me, wiping my forehead with a damp towel.

"Sorrwee..." I replied. I tried to sound pitiful, my best imitation of a child sounding like they realised they were at fault. I was pretty sure that I leveraged the part of me that was Asher when I said that. I knew memories of Asher influenced me because it was not said in English, and that was not how I would normally apologise on the rare occasions that I did. For a moment, I felt conflicted about letting memories of a child influence my behaviour.

I could see Marta's expression soften through her eyes as her anger was diffused by my act.

"Oh it's ok child, your fever is almost gone now. Let me just cast Vigor one more time and I'll let you rest." For a moment, I thought I had heard wrong when she said she would " cast Vigor". Just when I was doubting what I had heard, I saw Marta place her hands above my forehead. The crow's feet by the side of her eyes showed as she closed her eyes to focus, before her hands lit up with a green glow. I could feel a surge of energy washing through me, starting from where she had placed her hand.

I immediately felt better and more invigorated, not having realised that I had been nursing a fever. I could see Marta's hand shake slightly after casting the spell. Holy shit I thought. Magic was real. I had an inkling ever since I glimpsed through the status screen before dismissing it, but actually seeing it was another thing.

"Marta?" I called.

"Yes Ash?" she replied.

"Do you... see the..." I was trying to put it into words to make sure I did not sound like a lunatic, "floating blue window? The one with words in it?" I asked timidly. Marta froze as she heard my question. For a second, I thought I made a mistake as maybe the blue window was only exclusive to me. Something I gained when I was reincarnated into this world like every protagonist in those Isekai anime I watched.

"How do you know about that?" Marta asked. My first thought was damn, I wasn't as special as I thought, since she seemed to know about it too. But that did not explain her current reaction. My logical Damian brain was telling me to choose my next words carefully. My stupid Asher brain blurted out the next words before I could stop it.

"Because I have it too?"

"I can't be... but you're too young... how could it..." Marta looked distraught as she said it.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked. She looked at me before trying to mask her worried look.

"Oh nothing is wrong child. You're just Weave Touched, that's all. All Vesperians get it when their core awakens between the ages of nine and twelve." She squatted beside my bed before continuing, "You're just a tad bit too young to have awakened your core so early. I'll tell you what it is but can you promise me not to mention it to anyone besides myself?" I nodded my head quickly.

"About 200 years ago, when Ironhold waged their war to expand their borders, our King's Magus Council had the foresight to know that they would eventually set their sights on Vesperia. So they came up with an idea to give our mages an advantage" she said. Oh boy, the standard history lesson you get when you were reincarnated, I thought quietly to myself.

"A few of the magus worked together to cast the Grand Weave by sacrificing themselves. Every Vesperian child from that day onwards becomes Weave Touched when they awaken their core. The Weave is a learning tool. It lets every mage understand their magic deeper, and lets them know where they need to further improve on. As a result, Vesperian mages progress faster and have better mastery of their magic on average, letting us hold Ironhold back despite Vesperia being a small country."

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"Special children like you might get taken to the military academy, so you have to promise me to keep this to yourself. Royal inspectors come every few years to look for children with special talent" she added. I just nodded my head, as I wasn't quite sure what the promise entailed and I did not want to commit verbally. Did she also expect me to not use any magic at all? I would not be able to do anything if that's the case. But I also understood her concern, I definitely would not want to serve in the military.

Something I had also avoided before when my father wanted to put me through military school back on Earth.

"I'll let you rest now. Do get some sleep dear, and hopefully you'll be up and about tomorrow" Marta said as she got up and left the room. She blew out the candle by the corner of the room, plunging the room into darkness. I could not see any lights creeping in through the boards on the walls or ceiling, which told me that it was probably some time in the middle of the night. A surge of warmth flooded through my stomach and this time it wasn't magic.

Marta had stayed by my side to take care of me despite it being so late. It was an unfamiliar feeling as I never got the same attention or care from my own parents in my previous life. Closest thing I had was when a nurse brought me a second cup of jelly when I was admitted to the hospital for a fractured leg. I knew Marta had asked me to get some sleep, but my mind was too wide awake at the implications of knowing magic was real. I first had to do a stock take of my situation.

The first was that my old life was gone and now I was stuck in the body of a five-year-old. I was at least glad for two things. Being reincarnated into a five-year-old was probably better than being reincarnated into a baby. I could not imagine having no control over my bodily functions and drinking milk out of someone else. Second thing I was glad for was I only had a first name.

I did not have Ketchum for my last name; otherwise I would have to build spherical-shaped capturing devices instead of a railgun to live up to my name. Next, magic was real. It would take time but maybe with magic, a lot of the constraints I faced when making my rail gun could be solved. Mark IV needed a fridge-sized capacitor bank but that might not be needed with magic. This was almost like a second chance. I definitely needed to learn magic. First I needed to check my status window again.

"Status" I whispered, afraid that I would alert Marta that I was not asleep yet. I waited like an idiot as nothing happened. Wait, was it a fluke? I thought hard about seeing the blue screen again, or Grand Weave as Marta called it. The window popped up again. Thank goodness I thought, taking note not to say status again but to think of the Weave.

Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Red Stage Level: 1 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 0/100 Core Mutations: (None) Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 1 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul Marta said it was a learning tool, so ideally it would be able to explain things to me. I tried to focus on the different texts of the window starting from my core. Nothing worked, that's tragic. I went down the list till I got to my one and only spell when another window appeared.

Electro Perception: Assist with sensing and visualising of electrical energy signatures or activity within close range. Resolution and range scale with level. Great, I'm making progress. I thought back to the Weave and the blue screen and it reappeared. The last thing on my list was only my Soul Mutation. I looked at Adaptive Soul and focused on it. Adaptive Soul: Your body has absorbed and adapted to having a chimeric soul through fusing with another soul of a being from another dimension.

When absorbing Mana Core Capacity from slain foes, there is a chance of obtaining soul mutations that are compatible and deemed beneficial I read that twice, and then a third time. Chimeric soul. I had an inkling that I was reincarnated into an existing body due to the jumbled memories but this pretty much confirmed my suspicion. I thought normally a person would only get Isekai'ed if they were greeted by Truck-kun but I guess 400 volts would also do the trick.

The other thing that bothered me slightly was the word chance. Chance implied that it was not guaranteed that I would always get a soul mutation. Something to keep note of as I didn't even know what absorbing Mana Core Capacity really entailed at this point. I tried prodding around for more information but that was all I could get. I would have to explore and experiment more in the future. I thought through the list of things I would need to find out more about, starting tomorrow.

What did my lightning affinity mean? Am I constrained to only casting lightning spells or would I be able to cast all spells but with added advantage for lightning? What was the Perfect after my lightning affinity for? Was that the highest grade and what advantage did it provide me? Was core stage red the lowest starting tier? How would I increase my stage? Learning my spell gave me MCC which seemed to be the same as experience in a normal RPG game. Was that the only way to gain more MCC?

My Adaptive Soul mutation seemed to indicate that you can absorb MCC from slain foes.... The list went on. But what I needed to do next was only three things. Learn how to read this world's language. While Asher's memories gave me the knowledge to speak and understand the language, I had no recollection of any writing I learnt. Obtain information on the fundamentals of magic in this world. Experiment and learn magic. Before I could work on my rail gun, I would need to get my foundations right.

It looked like three simple things but boy did I have my work cut out for me as I had a whole new world to explore. I thought about a certain Arabic prince singing on a flying carpet as I drifted off to sleep.